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Show/Tell/Share: This fantastic graffiti artwork by Nico is super close to where we’ll be opening The Social Outfit very soon. It’s lovely to walk past this owl everyday; to admire the colours; and then get stuck into my work of opening our doors to the public in June.

And, here I was thinking things in my life were already very busy with a full site fit-out, hiring staff, and kitting-out a retail shop …

When this happened:

That’s right, the Hawaiian First Officer successfully broke a foot bone in brilliant style, which means about 6 weeks of crutches… and did I mention we have *lots* of stairs around where we live?!! This experience is clearly going to be an unintended *gift* to teach us about being patient, and taking things one step at a time!

And because we’re really in the building stage of The Social Outfit‘s Newtown space, I like to wear jewellery that metaphorically represents where we’re at… (And Tatty Devine, of course!) …

The School for Social Entrepreneurs asked if I’d come and talk to current students about trying to set up a social enterprise in Sydney; especially sharing candidly how I think about ‘leading’ this work personally. I decided for the talk to break out a sample we’d been playing with at the store: a pink fluffy draped jacket. Fluro+Pink+FluffyFabric+Love = Leadership! It was great speaking to the group, and my main message was how grateful I have been to partner with, and collaborate with so many *talented* people to get us to this stage.

I can’t wait to show you just what we’ve been making behind our closed doors in terms of clothes. And it will happen relatively soon: Promise! (This jacket won’t make it into production we don’t think… but that’s just because we got even better, and *funner* pieces to make!)

Here’s a few more images of my outfit at the front of Nico‘s Owl Graffiti Spot in Newtown. I found this vintage dress in a Rockdale op shop quite recently. I think it’s so *vintage 1970s pretty*… And my Tatty Devine pegasus necklace is the same as the feathers on the owl… (again matching jewellery to my surrounds…)

And for a momentary-fashion-outfit-break, check out just *some* of the wonderful people helping me turn The Social Outfit from ‘idea’ to ‘REALITY’. From the left is volunteer Althea Mackenzie, who’s helping on all things HR, volunteers and operations; then Traci Thomas who is volunteering to source fabric donations and help research aspects of our fashion production work; and then there’s Emma-Kate Wallace, who is in charge of our all manufacturing and retail work (plus she also runs WEFTshop too). These three are ACE x 1 million!

Look at this delivery from Traci of donated fabric. Thanks so much to Traci and our fabric donation lables! If this fabric wasn’t being used by us, it was about to go into landfill…

Show/Share: My brother recently celebrated his 40th birthday; and it was lovely to spend some *party time* with him and his family… and especially if it also involves a bit of festive dressing!

As Melbourne’s recent weather has been *super hot* – and as I’m prone to burning instantly under any kind of sun – I went with the ‘light-covering’, layering look… (And especially as that also allowed me to wear both The Social Outfit and The Social Studio gear in celebration!)

With it already being February, I’m fully back at work at The Social Outfit, and working hard. As you might imagine we’ve got a lot of planning and preparations underway to start off our full-time school, retail store and community space in Sydney. Exciting! And nerve-wracking! Here’s me on a working day, sporting a new The Social Studio dress – made with vintage fabric – I bought when in Melbourne last week…

… I love these stockings from Japan, with the individual toe sections. I know ‘toe-socks’ are far more common in Australia now, but I haven’t seen the stocking-versions take off quite so much. I can’t believe I haven’t laddered them yet!

So from my head to my toes, hope you’re *ace* and I look forward to sharing more updates with you soon! xo

Note: I know this post is actually published in 2014, but please just read it like it was still 2013 …

Show: Hey, hey it’s *Catch-Up Fashion and Fun Times!* With the end of the year looming and the supremely welcome news that The Social Outfit will open our doors in 2014, I’m winding things down now to take a break. But before the holidays begin, here’s some things I’ve been doing, and clothes I’ve been wearing for the last week or so…

The Social Outfit had our first ‘Annual General Meeting’ as a NSW-based Incorporated Association on Thursday 5 December. The Committee of Management all got together to be re-elected for ongoing service and to reflect on our last 18 months.

I like to not only reflect mentally, but also with my dress choice; thus wearing both the early days of The Social Studio’s work (my skirt) as well as our much more recent, ‘The Social Outfit loves Linda Jackson’ silk dress (as shirt) and leggings…

At the very end of November to early December I was in Melbourne for the Vodafone Foundation’s ‘World of Difference’ training as a part of my year of paid-charity leave. It was also a chance to catch up with my family down south. Here’s me and my two lovely older brothers, spending some *welcome* family time together…

In Melbourne I also got to catch up with my dear friend Bridget and her daughter. We visited the Ian Potter Gallery as a part of the NGV, and saw the *brilliant* exhibition called ‘At Home with the Hotham St Ladies’. Why did I think it was fabulous? Well it’s a sculptural exhibition and the artwork is made from piped cake icing! That sign behind is made entirely of cake-icing; and the artwork is fun, colourful and frivolous.

And here, just for a bit of fun, is me sharing photos my Dad tried to take whilst I was in Melbourne for the blog. Bless him, I’ve not yet quite trained him on keeping the phone still enough to *catch* the fashion blog obligatory photo!

On Saturday last weekend, we went to a dear friend’s 40th birthday. Given the time of year, the theme was ‘Día de Muertos’ (Day of the Dead) and/or Mexican. The Hawaiian First Officer and I decided we wanted to go down the costume route of paying homage to great Mexico moments and/or people.

As I am sure you’ll agree, the Hawaiian First Officer took the theme of celebrating the 1968 Mexico Olympics with gusto. This montage is an absolute *gif favourite* of mine! I’m thinking that gold medal was won for retro-dancing-boxing, yes?!

Now you best be a little warned about the next set of photos…

I went as ‘Ugly Betty‘ because I think she’s a gorgeous Mexican woman; she’s cute; and, I always thought her fashion was fabulous from the get-go. The thing is, it turns out that if I put fake braces and teeth in, I look almost *nothing* like Ugly Betty and just closer to scary! As my dear brother said when he saw these photos today, “Yeeesh. You look sort of dead.” So not cute. But I still pay my homage to Betty; I realise my entire wardrobe is built for her; and, we had a great time!

Also, turns out – again, perhaps not that surprisingly – I’m a full-time smiler, so fake teeth are just really annoying after more than a minute. Did I mention I really like talking too, which makes a mouth-guard at a party *very* annoying!

Here’s the Birthday Lady, Antonia (who is also on The Social Outfit’s Board). Her glitter make-up was *wonderful* … And fake eyelashes on both top and bottom? Yes please!

This photo below is Friday evening last week, hanging out with friends…

And finally, here’s me the Saturday the weekend before, when a friend asked to interview me about my love of Ken Done (he’s studying film-making). And whenever I hear the words, “Ken Done” I naturally turn to some of my most favourite Australian vintage gear…

Show/Share: We spent some *fun* times with my nephews and sister-in-law, visiting Sydney on this long weekend…

… And I celebrated by wearing my ‘new’ second-hand Reg Mombassa ‘Mambo’ original shirt. Reg Mombassa is one of my favourite artists; and the fact that we can pay homage to his unique artistic-eye via clothing is *good* news for a fan like me. Years ago I found one of his singlets in an op shop (shown here on ShowTellShare), but after seeing Awesome Frances from Corpulent in her shirt, I’ve also been keeping a lookout for my very own version too. And I’m pretty happy that this vintage-find also incorporates the great colour-combination of yellow, orange and blue… Sydney-springtime-fun!

We all had a lovely time together. And I do so appreciate that my nephews enjoy playing with, and asking questions all about my collection of oversize-jewellery-accessories… obviously I see it as an *important* component of their lifelong education!! xo

Show/Share: Right, I’m determined to get things up to speed in these busy weeks for me, so this post is going to be shorter on words, but still with I what I hope is quite a few *fun* photos and outfits for you to see!

Here’s also some photos from the school’s Intensive English Centre Graduation that we attended last Wednesday to finish up the project. First up, Farnoush and Mahmoud share their experiences of our fashion work in front of their peers: especially how much they liked dressing up and having the film made!

Below is me and Shannon Carruth from ING Direct, who funded our project. It was lovely to have Shannon attend the graduation celebrations in-person; and I really like being able to work collaboratively with foundations like this.

One of my favourite parts of the IEC Graduation was one student singing an amazing version of Alicia Key’s ‘Ain’t Got Nothing’, and we all could sing along with a giant karaoke screen. The song is SO hard to sing, but I *love* a good bit ‘o karaoke, exactly timed to allow you to follow along!

This last week my sister-in-law, Susan, sent me a photo of her wearing a The Social Studio silk shift dress from ‘Colour Chameleon‘ in Melbourne. She said she got many comments on the night about how great the design is…

Then last Sunday… This was when we went to see the last showing of ‘The Baulkham Hills African Ladies Troupe‘. I’m hoping this show is going to get more seasons, and hopefully across Australia. This theatre shows the real-life stories of four African women who now live in Sydney. It’s an honest, emotional and exceptionally interesting drama that really shows these women’s resilience.

Right, so now that’s all posted, I’m going to rest a little this evening, then pull up my socks and get crackin’ into another busy week. I’ll be sharing with you again soon enough, and in the meantime, I hope you’re *GRAND*! xo

Show/Share: I’m on a brief holiday for a few days, but I really wanted to quickly share with you these pictures from some fun times I had recently with my old next door neighbour, Elaine. When I was growing up, Elaine lived next to us for about 15 years. She’s such a great lady, and she loves telling stories about how she could hear me singing from her own house, with me in our backyard, crooning *dreadfully out of tune* but very loudly, over those formative teenage years! And, it wasn’t until I saw her in person this weekend that I realised it was from her that I learnt to become so *fondly* attached to oversized, fantastic rings. Check out the second photo below and see how brilliant her bedazzled lion and leopard rings are. This lady has style!

I was also so pleased because when I asked Elaine to pose with me for the blog, she was very happy to oblige. And we both couldn’t resist a fun pose that shows off our rather large height difference! I tell you what else: I hope when I’m 81 years old I look half as good as Elaine does now! xo

And here’s me yesterday, visiting the White Rabbit Gallery in Chippendale. This gallery comprises of a significant private collection of contemporary Chinese artworks; now open to the public, and free. It’s fantastic and worthy of a look-see.

I found this artwork by Xu Zhen particularly tactile and inviting. With over 70kgs of paint in the piece it appeals to my sense of indulgence and overdoing things!

Show/Share: This is us saying goodbye to Kit, who heads back to the UK this weekend. We were joined by Kit’s sister Becky, who has been here for the past few weeks on holiday. Even though we’re all smiles here, The Social Outfit will miss all of Kit’s hard work and *go get ‘em attitude* very much. Safe onward journey lovely ladies …

Below is some of what Kit wrote about her experience being involved with The Social Outfit:

I have learnt a great deal while working with The Social Outfit, and I feel it has made my experience in Australia what it has been. I have gained more self-assurance … I now feel passionate about working closely with the coming together of communities, and believe this is a skill I would like to use in my career in the future.

We’ll miss you, Kit. Thank You! xo

…

And this is me yesterday, looking *quite* a bit like a 1980s bank teller, or maybe flight attendant… Although actually what I was doing was meeting with some very warm and welcoming staff at the Red Cross, Migration Support Programs in Sydney city, as well as with the Metro Migrant Resource Centre in Campsie. The meetings went very well, and I’m so pleased to be talking with people who are interested in collaborating, and welcoming of what The Social Outfit is hoping to achieve.

This past week has been *busy* busy! My head is in a bit of a *constant whirr* as we count down to our event next week. I’m trying to grab minutes where I can, so apologies if my posting is erratic, or if I’m not wholly making sense…

At the same time, we’re getting to keep having fun, and working hard. This is me and my Dad this Thursday night. He was in town, and we were all off to Planet’s own end of year party.

Ross of Planet has *super* kindly offered us to use his space next week for our event and show, and let me tell you, the space is gorgeous! Check out just a small sample of Ross’ great style … *swoon*

We stopped in an alley way for a photo, and you can see the wind was having some fun with my The Social Studio silk skirt. These photos feel a bit metaphorical at the moment: I’m a little bit blustery, but we keep forging ahead. xo xo

Tell: Glasses from op shop, The Social Studio fabric necklace, African necklace gifted to me by Dad, vintage top gifted to me by a woman when I first arrived in Sydney, Saba belt, The Social Studio silk skirt, Sportsgirl tights gifted by my Mum, Fluevog boots, Australiana bag found on eBay.

Share: I hope you know by now that I like to keep you updated with *tidbits* and stories about what keeps me busy each day; especially in relation to The Social Outfit. But on some days, and in some weeks, it feels like all I have to say is, “Head down, doing paperwork. Head down, doing planning.” This week feels a bit like that. And that sounds a bit boring to share, really… But, like a teacher who once trained me said, ‘You can’t take young people to Disneyland every day, Jackie, otherwise it holds no meaning’…

… So instead of dwelling on that too long, let’s take a quick close up look at this 1980s silk *gem* by Diane Freis. Chris – a regular ShowTellShare follower, and family friend – introduced me to Diane Freis when she found me a two-piece-1980s-divine-outfit in an op shop in Manly years ago (worn here and here). I’ve never looked back, and I now LOVE Diane and her crazy-colour-designs. So thanks, Chris! xo

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SHOWTELLSHARE is my personal blog to show, tell and share my love of fashion and social projects.

Right now, I'm also setting up The Social Outfit in Sydney. We provide education, training and employment opportunities for people from new migrant and refugee communities. The Social Outfit believes creativity and fashion can lead to learning and empowerment. We're the sister organisation to The Social Studio in Melbourne.

I hope you enjoy what you see here as I work on my dreams of *doing good in a fashion*

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WHERE DID WE START?

Check out the *Good Fashion for Good* What Ken Be Done Challenge from 2010-2011.